Poised to Lead

Following through with change is hard. See past New Year's resolutions for proof.

But, according to Anton Armbruster, PhD, founder of Strategic Action Services Inc., people are most likely to implement change if they clearly and concisely state their objective up front and subsequently address any fears and assumptions associated with the change. "The reason we struggle with achieving a personal improvement objective is because of unwitting personal commitments in conflict with the intended improvement," Armbruster said during the Radiology Leadership Institute (RLI)® Summit, held recently at Babson College in Wellesley, Mass.

Armbruster's change initiation presentation was one of six plenary sessions held during the four-day summit in September of 2016, which drew 122 participants, including radiologists and health care administrators. The other sessions covered brand management, governance, value-based performance systems, operations, and negotiations. The summit also included a patient-centered care panel discussion with Sabiha Raoof, MD, chief medical officer and patient safety officer at Jamaica and Flushing hospitals in Queens, N.Y., and Garry Choy, MD, MBA, chief medical officer of a health care informatics technology company in San Francisco.

Each plenary session had two components: a formal presentation had a breakout activity. For instance, during her session about successful negotiations, Lakshmi Balachandra, MBA, PhD, assistant professor of entrepreneurship at Babson, divided the class into small groups to work through a three-party coalition exercise, where one party was clearly the underdog. "Negotiation is the art of letting the other side have your way," Balachandra told participants, referencing a similar sentiment expressed by 19th-century Italian diplomate Daniele Vare.

A Lesson in Leadership

Dynamic learning is the cornerstone of the RLI, a professional development academy that positions radiologists as leaders to ensure exceptional quality, service, and patient care into the future. ACR launched the RLI in 2012 and has held the annual summit in partnership with Babson College since 2014.

Alexander M. Norbash, MD, FACR, summit co-director and professor and chair of radiology at the University of California San Diego, kicked off this year's summit by encouraging participants to test out their leadership abilities and learn from one another during the conference. "If you're not willing to take risks and fail, you will never grow," Norbash said.

Gaurab Bhardwaj, MBA, PhD, summit co-director and associate professor and Louis J. Lavigne, Jr., Family Endowed Term Chair in strategy and planning at Babson College, facilitated the plenary sessions, and RLI faculty members provided daily wrap-ups, tying the content directly to the business of radiology. In addition to Norbash, those faculty members were Frank J. Lexa, MD, MBA, RLI chief medical officer; Geraldine B. McGinty, MD, MBA, FACR assistant professor of radiology and assistant chief contracting officer at Weill Cornell Medicine and vice chair of the ACR Board of Chancellors; and Cheri Canon, MD, FACR, professor and chair of radiology at the University of Alabama in Birmingham and vice president of the ACR.

Something for Everyone

Radiologists at all career levels participated in the summit, including 10 residents who attended on RLI scholarships that covered tuition and expenses. Devaki Shilpa Surasi, MD, a second-year radiology resident at the University of Oklahoma and one of the scholarship winners, learned about the RLI when she was a 2015-16 E. Stephen Amis, Jr., MD, Fellow in Quality and Safety. Surasi said the summit exceeded her expectations, providing highly valuable career and life lessons. "It's an enriching personal and professional experience," she said.

Joe Ronsivalle, DO, chair of radiology at the Guthrie Clinic in Sayre, Pa., attended the summit after completing the RLI's Harvard Emerging Leaders Seminar, a three-month virtual leadership course. Ronsivalle said he gained skills during the summit that were immediately applicable to his work. "I recently assumed a new role as a chair, and this conference really has provided me with the tools that I need for that role," Ronsivalle said. "It has allowed me to think differently about what I do every day, and I have concrete things to take back that will change the way I provide leadership to my group."